Solitudes TAG
by DeutchRemy
Summary: Sorry but I suck at story titles. Jack and Sam's recovery after their time in Antarctica. Please R&R!


I make it out from under the fog of anesthesia and pry my eyes open. My body aches a bit, but there must be something in my IV because I feel…good. Really good…

Where the hell is everybody? I grab the bed railing and attempt to push myself over onto my side. Aha, there's the pain!

"Colonel, please!"

Is it her? Yep, looks like Carter and I got ourselves into such a jam that good ol' Doc Frasier was forced to come through the gate to put band aids on our boo-boos.

She hurries over and pries my white knuckles off of the railing and, as gently as possible, eases me onto my back.

"I see you've come to put band-aids on our boobs." I slur. "I mean boo-boos."

"Colonel, you've been seriously injured and are still under the influence of the anesthesia; I'd prefer it if you refrained from trying to move yourself."

"No problem, Janet."

"That's 'Doctor Frasier" to you, Colonel." Even in my slightly drunken state I can catch the slight note of amusement in her voice. "Wait, where's your oxygen mask?"

I shrug. She looks around and, spotting it, picks it up off the floor.

"I don't know how that happened." It's a lie; I threw it down there.

She sighs and reattaches the mask to my face. Then I remember.

"Carter?"

"Next to you."

"Oh." More concerned with making sure she's alive than with letting her rest, I pull the mask off again and half slur, half shout her name. "Carter!"

"Colonel, please! She's asleep."

Turns out I have a super power - annoying the hell out of the doc. I'm going to hone this speciality.

"Captain Carter needs her rest, sir, as do you."

She's right. I run my hand through my hair and wince a bit as my IV gets tugged.

"Sorry, Doc. I think morphine makes me a bit loopy. So, what's the damage?"

"To you or to the captain?"

"She's damaged, too?"

"Yes, but not as severely as you. Colonel, I don't know how to say this, but you were quite literally on the brink of death." She picks up the chart that rests in a plastic holder at the foot of my bed. "Let's see, two broken ribs, broken femur, severe hypothermia, dehydration, surprisingly mild frostbite on your nose and toes. Captain Carter suspected you were bleeding internally but fortunately she was mistaken."

"And how's she doing?"

"Sorry, sir, but I can't discuss another patient's condition."

"Aw come on, doc! She's my second in command! She's the Little Buddy to my Skipper!"

"Sorry, you'll just have to wait until she wakes up and tells you herself." She begins prodding my abdomen with her fingers. "Any tenderness?"

"Uh, yeah!" I roll my eyes. I just broke two ribs for god's sake - surely my entire trunk is going to be tender for a while!

"Sorry. What about here?"

"Geez, would you knock it off?!"

"I'm sorry, Colonel."

I glare. She's not sorry.

"So, you came through the 'gate, huh?" I slur. "What's this, your second time?"

"Actually, Sir, we didn't come through the gate at all. You've been on Earth the whole time. Antarctica. General Hammond is here, too."

"You mean the fat man came through the 'gate, too?"

"No, Sir. I already explained, you're at McMurdo. We took a plane here."

"Ohhh…just one more question. Did you guys have to grease up the general and squeeze him through the 'gate when you went through?"

She sighs. "Let's move on, shall we?"

She moves down to the foot of the bed and gently removes the blankets from my feet, exposing my bare toes. Holy Jesus, each one is covered in a massive blister!

"Doc, what the hell?!"

"You received mild frostbite on these toes, Colonel. The blisters are normal but might need to be drained. Can you wiggle them for me?"

I comply, but only because I want to hasten the process of getting her the hell away from my aching body.

She finishes her exam and then makes me blow into some sort of tube that measures my lung function or some bull.

"Wait, doc!" I call out to her as she turns on her heel and walks back to the nurses' station.

"Yes, Colonel?"

"Tell Carter that…" I'm starting to fade.

"Tell Carter what, Sir?"

I jerk awake again. "Tell Carter that if…if she finds my Mickey Mouse shorts that she can keep them."

"Yes, I'll be sure to relay that information to her. Good night, Colonel."

"Night…"


End file.
